Category: Announcement

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"Chen Taijiquan Illustrated" - A great student handbook!

There are literally thousands of books about Tai Chi available, including a wide range of texts old and new focussing on the Chen family style (I should know, I own more than my fair share of them!).
I recently bought "Chen Taijiquan Illustrated" by David Gaffney & Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim. Where other books can get bogged down in complicated textual descriptions and lost in the Chinese paradigm, Chen Taijiquan Illustrated" breaks the subject down into manageable chunks making it easy to understand and digest for beginners and more advanced practitioners alike.
Breaking the subject down into 3 sections, the book focuses on the physical rules governing posture and movement, applications of the techniques learnt through form practice and the philosophical concepts underpinning the art.
Each section is presented as a series of condensed bullet lists pulling together Western and Chinese terms and ideas complemented with helpful illustrations and quotations from Grand Masters past and present. It succeeds in that rarest of achievements and presents the complexities of Chen Style Tai Chi and in a way that is comprehensible and useful.
If you haven't already, you can grab yourself a copy on Amazon, or from the authors' website, here:
Chen Taijiquan Illustrated
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Mawangdui Daoyin Seminar

Mawangdui, translated as 'King Ma's Mound', is an archaeological site located in Changsha, China. The site consists of two saddle shaped hills which contain three tombs. These tombs were initially thought to be those of Ma Yin, ruler of the Chu kingdom between 853 and 930AD, giving rise to the erroneous name Mawangdui.

It was subsequently established that the tombs actually dated back to the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD) and were those of the Chancellor Li Cang, his wife Xin Zhui, and a male believed to have been their son. It's now thought that the original name may have been mis-interpreted and should in fact be the similarly sounding "Ma an dui" meaning "saddle-shaped mound" in reference to the geography of the hills containing the tombs.

The tombs contained well preserved mummified remains and a wealth of other artefacts including a number of Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk. Known as The Mawangdui Silk Texts, they include some of the earliest manuscripts of existing texts such as the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching. In addition to these and other works were numerous previously unknown medical texts. These medical texts included depictions of Daoyin (Qigong) exercises which are today known as the Mawangdui Daoyin Shu.

Ancient Illustration of the Mawangdui Daoyin Shu Movements

Consisting of 12 easy to learn, graceful movements, the Mawangdui Daoyin Shu  movements work with the flow of Qi through the meridians and encourage connection between the external movements of the body and the internal activity of the mind. Through rising and squatting, extending and withdrawing the limbs, bending and stretching, the movements help maintain health and cultivate the spirit.

We're delighted to be able to announce that guest instructor Feixia Yu from the UCLAN Confucius Institute will be joining us at the start of October to share this ancient Qigong sequence with us.

You can find a demonstration of the sequence on YouTube, here.

The seminar will be held in St. Aidan's Church Hall on Station Road in Bamber Bridge on Saturday 1st October between 1 - 4pm and is suitable for adults of all ages and abilities with no previous experience required. For more information, or to reserve a place, please visit our seminars page, here.

 

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Commencing on Wednesday 25th May we will be offering fortnightly Qigong sessions at The Kurloon Source Wellbeing Retreat in Pilling. There will be two consecutive 50 minute sessions of Qigong for Health which will involve a variety of exercises including the ancient Ba Duan Jin sequence and a selection of movements from the Yang Shi Ba Shi sequence. In addition to the exercises will include both standing and guided meditation.

To book a place at one of the sessions, please contact Sue at Kurloon via her Facebook page. The logo below links to the event for the first session.

Kurloon Source Wellbeing Retreat

 

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No Class Saturday 12th March

We will be closed on Saturday 12th March because the church are using the Auditorium.

All classes at other locations are unaffected and will be open as usual. Normal Saturday service will be resumed the following weekend (Saturday 19th March)

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Free UCLAN Ba Duan Jin Seminar

In addition to our own regular weekly classes, we try to run a few seminars with guest instructors each year. One of our favourite guests is the wonderful Feixia Yu who is offering a free face to face session next Thursday 10th March, where she'll be running through the Ba Duan Jin Qigong routine. I can't recommend this session enough. Here are full details of the session and how to get involved...

 

I will be delivering a workshop on Baduanjin at sir Tom Finney Sports Centre from 2-3pm on Thursday the 10th of March.
 
Most of you will be fairly familiar with Baduanjin already. Classic Baduanjin Qigong is also sometimes called Mini Tai Chi. It is an ancient and most widely practiced wellness exercise from China. It consists of eight simple movements of gentle to medium intensity, making it easy to learn, and suitable for all ages and all levels of fitness. The routine synchronises deep breathing with gentle twisting and mindful control of the body, making it an ideal mindfulness exercise for physical and mental health.
 

In this one-hour workshop, we will be able to go into more details of the movements and their functions. I will also be able to help you make minor corrections to the movements so your practice is more effective. The event is totally free and you only need to book your place at Eventbrite, please click the image below:

 

 

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恭喜发财 Gōngxǐ Fācái

Gōngxǐ Fācái

恭喜发财

Happy New Year to one and all!

Just a quick reminder that we’re gathering at The Guild pub on Fylde Road, Preston for a drink or two before heading to Tang Chinese Restaurant for a glorious banquet on Saturday night to see in the Year of The Tiger.

If you want to join us head to the seminar page and book your place, just make sure you’ve signed up by Friday so we know numbers.

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Celebration of the Year of the Tiger

After 2 long years, this year sees the return of our Chinese New Year celebrations in the form of an afternoon seminar followed by a Chinese Banquet in the evening.

 

We'll be joined by Michael Singleton from White Tiger Northwest for an afternoon practicing the first 15 movements of Xin Jia at Valley Church in Bamber Bridge 1 - 4pm.

 

In the evening we'll regroup in Preston for a Banquet at Tang Chinese Restaurant on Fylde Road.

 

This is always a popular event and the ongoing Covid pandemic means places will be limited this year, so to reserve a place at the seminar, the meal or both visit the seminar bookings page

 

 

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Seminar Venue Change

*** SEMINAR VENUE CHANGE ***

 

Due to a double booking at Valley Church, Saturday 27th November's Yi Jin Jing Seminar will now take place in St. Aidan's Church Hall (immediately next to Valley Church on Station Road, Bamber Bridge).

Click picture for map/directions

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Club Online Members Area Goes Live

The Members Area on this website has finally gone live. We'll be adding to it over the next few weeks, however it's already got a few useful bits and pieces in there.

Access is strictly limited to people who physically train at the club (or have done so in the past). To gain access, simply visit the website, select "Members" from the menu and follow the "Join Us" link.  Alternatively, click the link below to go straight to the registration form itself.

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Yi Jin Jing Seminar

For our next seminar, we’re incredibly fortunate to be joined by Feixia Yu, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Central Lancashire and the founder of YuTaichi, for an afternoon’s instruction in the Yi Jin Jing.

The Yi Jin Jing is a manual containing a series of exercises, coordinated with breathing, which are said to enhance physical health dramatically when practiced regularly. In Chinese yi means “change”, jin means “tendons and sinews”, and jing means “methods”.

The Shaolin Monks are internationally renowned for their fighting skills and remarkable feats of strength. It is said that these skills and abilities can be attributed to their practice of the Yi Jin Jing.

Feixia is a member of the International Health Qigong Federation and British Health Qigong Association and has a wealth of experience and training to draw upon. In addition to her extensive knowledge of Qigong, Feixia has also trained in Chen Style Tai Chi with Grand Master Chen Xiaowang and has been a qualified Chenjiagou Taijiquan School Instructor since 2013.

Join us at Valley Church in Bamber Bridge at 1pm on Saturday 27th November for an opportunity to learn this ancient routine.

The seminar will run from 1-4pm and costs £20. Places are limited, so get in touch now to avoid disappointment.

To request a place on the seminar, please click the image below.

 

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